Motifs in Film

A motif is a repeated item that appears throughout a particular film. The repetition of a motif helps the plot to advance and sometimes helps reveal the theme in that particular film. A motif is often something that is woven into a plot and in order to locate motifs, you have to be an active watcher of film, you must look for reoccurring patterns or items, colours, actions or dialogue we've seen before. Harry Potter is a franchise of films made from the series of books written by JK Rowling, and in the third film of the franchise; Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, a motif is repeated throughout the film in many visual representations.

In this film, a motif is repeated throughout the film that is linked to a dog or a relationship connected to a dog. In the beginning of the film, Dudley's aunt visits Harry in his home. She gets frustrated as the stupidity of certain individuals and delivers the line 'You know what, it's the parents fault, it's just like raising dogs, if there is something wrong with the female dog, then their is going to be something wrong with the child'. This seems like a crazy and irrelevant metaphor at the beginning of the film, but it's actually a highly interesting one to use as Dogs are highly intelligent animals who can be trained to fulfil a number of roles and tasks, so not only is it an irrelevant metaphor, but factually, it's incorrect, so there is a subtle introduction of this motif at the beginning of the film, and one that is carried on only two scenes into the future.

A couple of scenes later, Harry Potter leaves the house in anger at the mistreatment he has been the victim of. Potter is visually vexed at the treatment he has suffered, but when he leaves his home, the motif of the dog returns, as he is stalked and chased by a dark, black dog. This suddenly makes Dudley's Aunt's metaphor more relevant, as evidently the dog has a key impact on this film. The slight high angle on the dog puts the audience in Potter's shoes, and shows the danger and fierceness of the encounter with this dog, it engages the audience and provides connotations of danger and a sense of calmness before the storm that occurs later on. Amazingly, the term black dog has been used to symbolise depression in many pieces of literature. Reg Mombassa (An Australian musician) describes Winston Churchill of having a 'black dog' which followed him around, and the combination of 'darkness' and 'dog' seems an apt way of describing depression, its an illness that could potentially be an everlasting companion as dogs are historically referred to as companions of mankind. Furthermore, it could connote the idea of death, as a black dog is a character renounced in myths and legends, it connotes fear and danger but also this idea of death. Black dogs in dreams are always interpreted negatively and throughout the world dreams that involve black dogs are seen to seen to crush the sleepers chest. Could Harry be depressed or in danger?

This motif of the dog is continued subsequent to Harry's return to Hogwarts as he investigates the contents of his tea leaves after a lesson. An ominous shape of what appears to resemble a hound similar to the one seen chasing Harry previously in the film. The reading of tea leaves is a historical way of finding out fate and where your life is heading. It was used by mystics in the past to predict the future and often you were required to pay for tea leaves to be read. The fact Harry has a symbol of a black dog is no coincidence as it is relevant to the narrative and his fate. According to http://www.tealeaf.ca, the symbol of a dog can mean many things, including the 'thwarting of life chances'. This is evidently a bad reading for Harry as obviously his life is at a liability due to this mysterious, reoccurring dog. This is foreshadowing the conclusion of the film by making it highly obvious this black dog has significance to the narrative and this motif is obviously not being included by accident as it keeps being repeated consistently with high significance. The shot type used is a close up with a slight higher angle to present the dog clearly and thoroughly, but the dark colours of the dog presents this danger and mystery around this particular Dog, why is it being shown? What significance does it have?

As Harry participates in a game of Quidditch, the Snitch rockets into the air, as Harry chases it as it ascends into the thunderous and gloomy sky, Potter quickly becomes surrounded by Dementors, and when he looks into the clouds, one of the clouds seem to resemble that of the black dog. This symbolises the darkness and incoming meeting of Potter and the Dog, and it's going to be one that isn't enjoyable or friendly as this dog is being repeatedly shown to Potter during this sequence of his life. This means the dog is somehow linked to evil, and this why it is black, as the colour black connotes to the danger and mysterious nature and feeling behind the dog. The Black Dog is also a famous ghost associated with the British Isles. So perhaps Potter is being haunted by this famous spirit who is trying to be his downfall. As fans of the franchise are well aware, the Dementors are characters who torture and torment Potter throughout the films, and this is no different as once again they provide the messengers for evil towards Potter. The dog is shown, like the tea leaf scene, at a neutral angle, this is because despite there being connotations of evil, it has to be clear what the image is portraying, and a neutral, mid shot provides clarity and identifies the dog clearly to the audience, the dark colours provide more in terms of connotation than the shot type, as the slight darkness to the cloud makes it visible and clearly stand out, this isn't in Potter's mind, but is actually being presented by the Dementors to Harry and the audience.

The next clip we see of the dog is when Harry, Ron and Hermione explore the lumping willow area as they are chasing after Ron's lost rat, what should they encounter but a black dog. This dog proceeds to grab Ron's leg and drags him under the lumping willow. This is more of a visual motif than perhaps the other examples of the tea leaves and the cloud, they all do the same thing but in different variations, the contrast of colours is significant in this seen, because despite the dog being a dark and dangerous black, the grass in which it is standing upon is a luscious and beautiful green with presents to the audience the idea of life and growth. The grass symbolises the dog's goodness, despite his ugly and dangerous outside, maybe there is a goodness inside of the dog that appreciates life and is not meaning any harm, much like the character of Beast in Beauty and the Beast, despite his ugly, malicious image, he has a warm heart, and perhaps the presentations of the dogs image was an attempt to make contact with Potter and aide him in some way. The angle in which the dog is presented at is extremely interesting as it has been shown as evil throughout the film and that's certainly the suggestion to the audience, that this character or dog is out to harm Potter but firstly wants to psychologically damage him, in this scene, he is presented at a mid shot which shows him in a neutral position, the same as Potter, could this be a symbolic link linking the two characters together? Could the dog mean something to Potter? However, shortly after this, the dog attacks Ron and once more this dog is shown as vicious.

The final time the motif of the dog is seen is at the conclusion of the film, as another visual is used to present it. This time the audience are shown a zoomed in image of paw prints on a wooden floor. This is presented at a close up angle, complimented with a pan and a soft underscore to build tension. Here, the kids are inside the shrieking shack after they have finally found Ron after he was dragged through this tunnel from the lumping willow to the Shrieking Shack. Again, we don't see the dog or the dog's face, instead we just see paw prints of the dog. This shows the variation of presentation of motif as this dog is seen in many different visual and aural mentions, whether that be through dialogue, a hint, a flavour or a visual image. That dog is highly significant to the narrative and this film in particular as it ends up being Sirius Black, Harry's godfather who has escaped from the Prison of Azkaban, which as it said in the film, is one of the most secure prisons ever built. Due to Black's animagus form of a dog, he tries to make a connection with Harry through this form of himself as he is attempting to protect Harry. So this motif that's repeated throughout the film is highly significant to Harry and the narrative, the different variations of the motif presents the importance the dog has on the film and come to the conclusion that the dog is important as it is not only about the dog, but revealing the characterisation of Sirius Black and connecting him with Harry Potter and the fact Black is actually a good character, who is trying to aide Potter rather than kill him which is what the motif presents to the audience throughout the film.

To conclude, the variety of presentation that is used to show this motif throughout the film makes it highly engaging and interactive for the audience. It conveys one message and then tricks you into revealing another. This motif is all about characterisation of Sirius Black and this is done in many elements of representation, from visual to dialogue. It symbolisms so much from depression to companionship and its this that leaves the audience guessing throughout.